


Dissonant Harmonies

by nermansherman



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Music, band au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nermansherman/pseuds/nermansherman
Summary: The Fairies and Tailbone are two of the top bands in Fiore, both signed with Fiore Records. But when the bands get midnight calls from their managers saying the label is running out of money, all they can do is play along. AU





	Dissonant Harmonies

It started with a call from Mira. Calls from Mira were not usually bad omens, but when she called at 1am, it was never good news. 

“Mira?” Levy asked, groggy after just waking up. “What’s going on? It’s the middle of the night.”

“Wake up everyone else. It’s important.” The sweet girl had never sounded so serious before. Levy gulped, then headed into the closest room: Erza’s.

“Erza. Wake up,” she said, gently shaking her. The redhead groaned and rolled over, her back now facing Levy. “Come on! Mira called, she says it’s important, and I’ve never heard her sound this serious.” That got Erza’s attention.

“Alright, I’m up. What’s happening?”

“She won’t tell me until everyone else is up.”

“Then why are you sitting here, talking to me, instead of waking them up?” she demanded.

Levy froze, like a deer in headlights. “Uh…”

“Oh, for Mavis’s sake I’ll do it myself.” Erza got up, nearly knocking Levy off the side of her bed in the process, and made a beeline for Juvia’s room. Levy quickly scrambled into Lucy’s room to wake her. 

All four girls met in their living room, circled around the coffee table with the phone set on it. “Mira, we’re all here. What’s going on?” Levy asked.

* * *

“WHAT?!” Levy cried, jumping up from her chair.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” exclaimed Lucy.

“This can’t be real. This can’t be happening. This is all just a terrible dream,” Erza muttered, pacing behind the old blue couch.

“Mira? Please tell us this is a joke,” Juvia pleaded, not wanting to believe the news.

“I’m so sorry ladies. I wish it was” was not the reply the girls wanted, but it was what they got.

“This isn’t why we formed a band! It wasn’t about the money, it was about making music together!” Lucy shouted, exasperated. Erza was still pacing, trying to convince herself it wasn’t happening. Levy had plopped herself back in the chair, and looked like she wanted to become one with it. Juvia sat completely still, frozen in her seat. Maybe if she froze, everything else would, too. Alas, that was not how the world worked.

“I know, Lucy, but please try to calm down. It wasn’t my decision, and I fought against it tooth and nail. The label is running out of money, and this was their solution,” Mira reasoned, trying to bring some semblance of logic into the room.

“We bring in plenty of money ourselves! Not to mention the other bands they have signed! Why us? Why now?” demanded Erza, who had stopped pacing and was gesturing wildly above Juvia’s head. 

“Makarov said he would explain everything tomorrow at the recording studio. We’re all supposed to meet there at noon, so please get some rest. I know this is a lot to take in right now, but you need to sleep and let it all sink in. Tomorrow’s a new day. Maybe this whole thing is temporary. I don’t know. But what I do know is that I will be doing all I can to make things go back to normal.”

The girls were disheartened at their manager’s words, but accepted that now was not the time to freak out about it. Mira had told them all that she knew, so now the only productive thing they could do was sleep. 

“Thank you for telling us, Mira. Good night, and we’ll see you tomorrow.” The other girls echoed Lucy’s words before Mira hung up. They all paused where they were. What now?

Erza was the first to break the silence. “She’s right. We should all try to get a good night’s sleep and start tomorrow off on the right foot.” After her declaration, she made her way to her room. Lucy stood up as well, and gave a sad look to Juvia and Levy before heading to her own bedroom. Juvia remained frozen, and Levy turned to look at her.

“Juvs? Are you alright?” she asked carefully, not wanting to upset the keyboardist any more.

“No, not really,” she quietly replied. Levy almost couldn’t hear her. “Juvia loves The Fairies how they are now. She doesn’t want that to change.”

“Me too,” Levy replied, moving to sit next to her friend, “but think of this as a new beginning. The start of a new chapter in the band’s life. We can make new music, different music than we would have otherwise. Try to find the silver lining.”

“Juvia is trying, but she is not good with change.”

“Then, what if you think of all the things that won’t change?” Levy asked. “Like, how we all still live in the apartment together. That won’t change. Or how it feels to play for our fans. That won’t change, either.”

“Or how Juvia feels when she swims,” she said, understanding what Levy meant and slowly beginning to embrace the new idea. “Or our movie nights together when we’re so busy talking we forget to actually watch the movie.”

“Or when someone brings up a college memory and then we all just reminisce for the rest of the day.”

“Or how hard it is to wake up Lucy on a Sunday.” The girls giggled at Juvia’s comment.

“You see, not that much is changing, Juvs. You’ve still got us, and Mira, and the apartment, and music, and swimming,” Levy said. Juvia nodded, and gave Levy a hug.

“Thank you, that helped. Juvia is going to take Mira’s advice and go to bed now. You should do the same.” She stood and walked to her room, with Levy’s eyes following. She hadn’t realized it at the time, but she wasn’t just trying to convince Juvia that everything was okay. She was trying to convince herself, too.

* * *

Elsewhere in Fiore, a similar situation played out. 

“Laxus, it’s 1 am. Why are you calling me?” Jellal asked. 

“You need to wake the others up. We gotta talk. Big stuff’s gone down,” Laxus said.

Jellal groaned. “I would rather you ask me to become a wizard. At least that’s possible in fiction.”

“I know it’s hard as hell to get Natsu and Gajeel up, but this is serious.” Jellal had never heard Laxus use this tone before.

“Shit. Okay. I’ll call you back once they’re up,” Jellal said, then hung up on his manager.  _ I suppose I should get Gray up first, but what the hell am I supposed to do about Natsu and Gajeel? They could sleep through a house fire. _ He sighed, before making his way into Gray’s room.

“Gray. You need to get up,” he said, shaking the sleeping man roughly. 

“Mavis, stop shaking me!” Gray exclaimed, having been rudely awakened. “Get off!”

“Sorry, but it’s urgent. Laxus called.” Jellal removed his hands from Gray and put them in his pockets.

“At— wait, what time is it?”

“1:06 am.” Jellal stood, and made to leave Gray’s room. “Come on, you have to wake up Natsu.”

“Fuck me,” he groaned, following Jellal. He supposed he should have seen this coming, as he and Natsu were best friends. But that didn’t mean getting Natsu awake was any easier. 

“Come on, flamebrain, wake up!” Gray shouted into Natsu’s ear. The pink-haired man snored louder in response. Sighing, Gray pulled the blanket off of his friend and began dragging him off his bed. Once the upper half of Natsu’s body was off the bed, Gray dropped him onto the floor with a nice, hard  _ thunk _ . He groaned, beginning to wake up.

“Natsu! Wake up, man!” Gray poked Natsu’s side with his foot, repeatedly, as a sleepy hand tried to swat his foot like a fly.

“Nngh...go ‘way…’m sleebin’,” Natsu moaned, barely conscious and still swatting his friend’s foot.

“Get up. Laxus called, and Jellal says it’s serious.”

A quiet “no” was heard from Natsu as he fell back asleep. Gray sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time that day. “I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice. Gajeel was playing around on the drumset yesterday and changed the throne’s height.” That got Natsu up,  _ quick _ .

“HE WHAT?” he shouted, bolting into a standing position. “I’M GOING TO KILL THAT METAL HEAD!” Gray rolled his eyes.

“No, you won’t, because he didn’t touch it. I lied so you would wake up. Now come on, Laxus needs to talk to us about something important,” Gray said, already done with his best friend’s antics.

“Well, that’s just rude!”

“Sure. Come on, ash brain. Let’s go.”

Jellal had had a similar experience with Gajeel (“Natsu messed around with your bass and detuned it” “THAT FIRE BREATHING FUCKER IS DEAD!”) and the four men sat in their living room while he called Laxus back.

“Shit’s gone down,” Laxus began.

* * *

“NO! NO WAY IN HELL!” Natsu shouted, undoubtedly waking up their neighbors.

“Why did Gramps think this was a good idea?!” Gray exclaimed. He had run his fingers through his hair so much it was a miracle he still had any. 

“This is bullshit. Absolute bullshit. We had  _ no _ say in this!” Gajeel spat. Jellal was the only one who seemed even remotely calm, but he was pissed, too.

“GUYS! Listen to me, for once in your sorry lives! This was an executive decision. I fought it as hard as I could, but the label needs the money, bad,” Laxus said, trying to reason with the fools in the band he managed.

“Do we not bring in enough ourselves? I’ve seen the financial statements, it’s a lot. And that’s excluding everyone else signed,” Jellal stated, deafeningly calm.

“I know, and you’re right, but they’re quickly running out of money and this was the best idea they had. Trust me, I don’t like it either.”

Gajeel scoffed. “Bold words from a guy whose job stays the exact same. Last I checked, this affects the  _ band _ , not the  _ manager _ .”

“Fight me all you want, I’m just as important as the rest of you.” Laxus sighed. Of course he managed the band full of idiots. Well, minus Jellal. Usually. “I’m in the same boat, and I don’t like it just as much as the rest of you.”

“This changes everything! Goodbye Tailbone, hello—”

“Natsu, shut up. We know,” Gray cut in. “You don’t have to say what we’re all thinking.”

“What the hell, stripper? Sorry that I’m expressing my feelings. Thought that was what we were doing, but I suppose only some of us actually care about the band.”

“HEY!”   
“BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!” Jellal roared. They shut up. “There’s no reason to fight each other over this. None of us are pleased with what’s going on, but these are the cards we’ve been dealt and now we have to play them. This doesn’t change the fact that we’re still friends and still a band.”

“He’s right. As dumb as all of you are, you’re my friends and I don’t want that to get messed up over something like this,” Gajeel said begrudgingly. Everyone looked at him, shocked.

“Emotions? From Gajeel?” Laxus asked, stunned.

“It’s a one-time thing. And shut up about it before I make you.”

“Ah,  _ there’s _ the Gajeel we know and love,” snickered Gray. Gajeel glared at him.

“Well, now that everyone seems to be in lighter spirits, I’m gonna go. I’m tired. But, before I do, Makarov wants us to meet at the studio at noon tomorrow. He said he’s gonna explain everything in more detail,” Laxus said. “If you aren’t there, I will personally harness the power of lightning and electrocute you all. And on that note, bye.” He hung up.

“I still think this is bull,” Natsu grumbled. The boys all nodded.

Jellal was the first to move. “Well, I’m exhausted and going to bed. I suggest you all do the same.” And with that, he went back to bed. His bandmates quickly followed suit, none of them looking forward to the day to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiiii! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story!
> 
> I started this back in May, and only just now got around to posting it. I put this on the back burner (same with TSMGO, oops) so this won’t get updated very frequently either, although I do have the second chapter done and the third in the works (I have like 500 words written). 
> 
> I’m currently working on a big FT fic that I’m super excited about, but it requires a lot of time for planning and writing, and I don’t have a lot of that right now. Hopefully (???) I’ll start posting it in, like, August, but that is a very generous estimate. I’m not going to say much about the plot, but it’s war-based and a canon-universe AU!
> 
> Anyway, feel free to leave a review, or to read other stuff I’ve written!
> 
> Also, shoutout to my best friend for proofreading this! They’re on AO3 as legendtripper and you should go check them out! I love you, bitch <3
> 
> -nerman


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